His Promise
by xobabygurlxo
Summary: I'll do a lot of things for you, Jeanne, but I won't break this promise. Not to her. Not to Kate.


Disclaimer: I own literally nothing except for the character of Kylie

Minor spoilers for Season 4

For arguments sake, and the sake of this story, let's pretend that Jeanne isn't as secretive as Tony is making her to be. I mean, she's still a secret, but not completely…well, you'll see what I mean. Also, I apologize for my very OOC um well characters. And I don't want to give too much away because it may take away from the impact of the story so….here we go!

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Somewhere amidst the passion and the soft, classical music playing in the background, a phone range. Both people sighed.

"Don't answer it," she said, breathlessly.

"I have to. It could be important." She sighed again. "Hello?"

"Tony? Where the hell are you? Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been calling you for…"

"Whoa, Abby, calm down. What's wrong?"

Abby sighed. "It happened again."

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"I have to go, Jeanne."

"What is it, Tony?"

Tony sighed, almost afraid to tell her because he knew how she'd react. "It's Kylie."

Just as he predicted, Jeanne rolled her eyes and got out of bed. "Of course," she mumbled.

"I knew you'd react this way. What is your problem with Kylie?"

"My problem? My problem is that I'm your girlfriend and yet you always run off to help _her_!"

"She is _my_ responsibility, Jeanne. We've been through this!"

"And why is she your responsibility? Why do _you_ have to take care of her? Huh? Because your ex-girlfriend can't?"

"My ex-girlfriend is _dead_, Jeanne!"

"I still don't see why you have to take care of her sister," she said, starting to walk away.

"Hey," Tony stopped her by putting his hand lightly on her arm, "I'll do a lot of things for you, Jeanne, but I won't break this promise. Not to her. Not to Kate."

And with that, he grabbed his coat and left the apartment.

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The anxiety attacks started after she had returned from Europe. When Kate died, Kylie couldn't handle it so she did what she did best: leave.

Europe was nice, so Tony heard. He got postcards from her as did the rest of the team. It wasn't until a year later that she returned and Tony was reminded of his promise. Every time in the past year he's had to go and help Kylie in one way or another, he thinks about the last real conversation he had with his former girlfriend….

FLASHBACK

_Kate moaned as Tony kissed up and down her neck. She could feel him smile as he did it so she moaned a little bit more._

_"Mmm, baby, you taste good," he groaned, "Then again, anything tastes good after that hospital food."Kate placed her hand on his chest and pushed him away. Tony coughed, "Hey! Come on, Katie, I was only kidding! I'm still healing."_

_"Tony, I want to ask you something," she said cautiously. _

_"No, you don't look fat and yes I do love you." He tried to attach his lips to her neck again but she pushed him away. "Not that," she said._

_Tony sighed. "OK, what is it?" Kate looked a little uneasy. "Kate? Come on, baby, you can ask me."_

_"Well, Tony, you know my sister Kylie?"_

_Tony nodded. "Sure, she's a sweet girl. Funny too, _and_ knows her movies."_

_"Yeah, well, I worry about her, ya know? I mean, she's 26 years old and doesn't have a job or anything."_

_"Yeah, but sweetheart, she's a regular Holly Golightly."_

_"I know she can take care of herself. It's just, at the rate she's going I worry about her So, I wanted to ask you for a favor."_

_"You want me to sleep with her?" Tony asked, confused as to where this was going._

_"No! I want you to promise that if anything happens to me, that you will take care of her."_

_"OK, but, unless you know something I don't, you won't die until you're at least 90, and I think at 88 she can take care of herself."_

_"Tony, you don't know I'll live until I'm 90, what with what we do and all."_

_Tony put his finger on her lips. "Don't talk that way. I don't want to think of you dying."_

_She removed his finger and said, "I'm just saying, can you please do this? For me?"_

_Tony looked at her, memorizing her, "Sure, sweetheart. Whatever you want."_

_The couple went on to endure their – unbeknownst to them – last night of love making._

END FLASHBACK

Tony ran into the hospital, quickly finding out which room Kylie was in. When he got to her floor, he found Abby, Ziva, and McGee waiting outside.

"How is she? What happened?" the questions started pouring out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Relax, Tony, she's fine," Ziva responded.

"Yeah, DiNozzo, calm down. She just had one of her attacks, she'll be OK."

"Oh, just one of her attacks, no big deal, huh Probie? Why did she even have the attack? I thought the doctors put her on medication."

"They did," Abby replied, "But they also said she hasn't been taking them."

"Why the hell not?" Tony fumed.

"You have to ask her," Abby said softly.

Tony sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Where's Gibbs?"

"In there with her," McGee answered.

"I gotta go in there," Tony said, making his way to the door.

Just as Tony went to open the door, Gibbs opened it from the other side. Tony and Gibbs stood there staring each other down. "Where were you?" Gibbs asked quietly.

Quietly but deadly – that was so Gibbs.

"I'm sorry, boss. I-I couldn't hear my phone and…"

Gibbs raised a hand to stop Tony from talking. "There is _no_ excuse, DiNozzo. That woman in there depends on you and you keep letting her down."

Tears threatened to form in Tony's eyes, but he couldn't dare let himself cry in front of Gibbs. After all, crying was a sign of weakness.

"I'm sorry, boss."

Gibbs still kept staring at Tony until finally he pointed a finger at the younger man and warned, "Don't let it happen again."

Gibbs walked away, and Tony took a deep breath. He remembered the first time Kylie got this attack – the first time he let her down.

FLASHBACK

Tony walked into the bullpen and didn't find anyone else. _Hmm,_ he thought, _that's odd. I am on time, right? Did I oversleep at Jeanne's?_

Tony set his stuff down at his desk and decided to go down to Abby's lab. When he got down there, he found Abby and McGee standing together near the table. Abby looked like she was crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Abby just stared at Tony. No one said a thing. "What?"

Abby just walked over and slapped Tony across the face. "Abby…" McGee started, and pulled her back.

"It's his fault, Tim!" Abby exclaimed. "She could've died and it's all his fault!"

Tony was so confused as Abby and McGee kept arguing.

"Ducky said it was only an anxiety attack. She'll be OK."

The two kept arguing and Tony finally said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute! What the hell's going on here?"

Abby sighed and just pointed towards the morgue. Tony left and headed towards Ducky's. When he entered the morgue, he only saw Ducky cutting into his latest victim.

"Ducky, what's going on here?"

"Ah, Anthony. You missed quite a bit of excitement around here."

"Yeah, I know. What happened?"

Ducky hesitated before saying, "I believe Jethro wanted to talk to you. He should be up in the bullpen by now."

Tony sighed. "OK, you don't want to tell me? Fine. Can you at least tell me who 'she' is that 'could've died?'"

Ducky hesitated again before replying, "Kylie."

Tony ran to the elevator and found it wasn't working. Gibbs must be using it for an office again – boy was Tony in trouble.

He ran up the stairs to the bullpen. When he got there, he saw McGee and Ziva sitting at their desks.

"Where's Kylie?" he asked, breathlessly.

"I think an agent was going to take her to the hospital to get some medication," McGee answered.

Tony ran to the window and saw Kylie leaving with an agent. Even from all those stories up, Tony could see that Kylie didn't look good. He had to go to her.

Tony ran to the elevator and just as the doors opened, and he went to go in, he was face to face with a very angry Special Agent Gibbs. Gibbs just pointed a finger motioning for Tony to "come here."

Tony gulped as he entered the elevator. Gibbs pressed the ground floor button and after five seconds, pressed the stop button, plunging the elevator into darkness.

Next thing Tony knew, he had his head slapped and was on the wrong end of a Special Agent Gibbs stare. Having been at the end of this stare many times, Tony kew it'd be best to keep quiet.

"That woman is _your_ responsibility," Gibbs whispered in his deadly way.

"I know boss…"

"Just where the hell were you this morning? Huh?"

"I'm sorry boss, I was just…"

"Look, I don't care about whatever woman you slept with last night. The only woman you should be concerned with right now is Kylie…"

"I know boss…"

"…because you promised…"

"Gibbs…"

"…her _dead_ sister…"

"I know…"

"…that you'd take care of her!"

His voice shook the elevator. Sure Tony had gotten into trouble before, but never anything like this. He really screwed up. His eyes started to water as he thought about Kate, about Kylie, and about his promise.

"I am _so_ sorry, Gibbs," he said slowly, "I take full responsibility. I should've been here." Gibbs stayed silent, respecting his agent's honesty. "Now please," Tony pleaded, "Tell me where she is."

END FLASHBACK

When he opened the door, he saw Kylie sitting in bed, head tilted, eyes closed. He noticed a small, white teddy bear sitting next to her and went over quietly and picked it up. It had a U.S. Marine's shirt on.

"Did I tell you you could touch Private Prewitt?"

Tony looked up to see Kylie's deep brown eyes looking back at him. She looked just like Kate, he almost did a double take.

"Pvt. Prewitt?"

Kylie nodded. "Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt."

"Robert E. Lee Prewitt," Tony laughed, "Montgomery Clift's character from _From Here to Eternity_."

Kylie smiled. "One of my all time favorite movies. And Montgomery Clift is one of the handsomest men to ever pretend to die during Pearl Harbor."

Tony chuckled. "I thought Prewitt was in the Army. This is a Marine bear."

"Hey, it's _my_ bear," Kylie grabbed Pvt. Prewitt away from him and the two laughed.

"What happened, Kylie?," Tony asked, sitting down on her bed, "You were doing so well. Why did you stop taking your pills?"

"They told you that?" Tony nodded. Kylie sighed. "Well, then, I guess you should know everything. I had a job interview today."

"A job interview? That's great! Why didn't you tell me?" Tony asked.

"I guess I didn't want to jinx it in case I bombed it. Which I guess I did." A small, sad smile graced her lips and she licked them before continuing, "Anyway, I was sitting in the receptionist's office and I was just looking around and I saw that the receptionist's name was Kate. I didn't think much of it since there a lot of Kate's out there but, this one was different. I mean, you should've seen her, Tony, she had dark hair, dark eyes, she could've been Kate's twin. It was unreal. After that, I don't know, I overheard someone talking about their sister dying and how heartbroken they were and I just – I could relate so much that I just lost it. Next thing I know my chest starts to hurt, I can't breathe as easily, and then I wake up to find myself here – again. It was horrible." Kylie sniffed, and two silent tears rolled down her face. Tony raised his hand and wiped them away, grabbing a hold of her hand.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you," he whispered.

"It's OK. I'm sorry I ruined your date."

"H-how did you know I was on a date?" Tony stuttered.

"Where else would you have been?"

Tony let out a small laugh. She knew him so well. Just like Kate.

"Can I ask you a favor?" she asked.

"Anything," Tony said, strengthening his grip on her hand.

"C-can you come lay here with me?"

Tony chuckled. "Sure, princess. Whatever you want."

Kylie moved over so Tony could be next to her in the bed. He draped his arm around her and she cuddled up next to him.

Everything was quiet for a minute before finally Kylie said, in almost a whisper, "Do you ever think about her?"

"Not a day goes by that I don't."

"Do you think…do you think I'm like her?"

Tony laughed. "I think you're more like Kate then Kate was."

Kylie smiled. "When we were younger, I always wanted to be just like her. My brothers, you know, didn't really care about us because we were girls. Not that they didn't love us, they did, but they were always running off to play football while Kate and I stayed home and had tea parties. She always took care of me, and that's why you kind of remind me of her."

"You calling me a girl?" Tony asked.

"Ha ha, no. I mean, you take care of me like Kate used to. I like it. You're doing a good job."

"Not that good of a job. I haven't been there for you lately."

"Well, I don't need you here all the time, I mean, I _can_ take care of myself."

"Of course you can," Tony smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you think she'd be proud of me?"

"Proud of you? Honey, I don't think she could be prouder!"

"You're just saying that."

"No, it's true! I mean it. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

Kylie smiled. "I just, want her to be proud of me. And I want you to be proud of me. Hell, I even want Gibbs to be proud of me."

"Well, you already got me hooked." Tony smiled. "Speaking of Gibbs, what did he say when he was in here?"

"He said he wanted me."

Tony almost choked. "What?!"

Kylie giggled. "I'm just kidding, Tony, breathe. He said he was worried about me, that I needed to start taking my pills again, and then he gave me Pvt. Prewitt."

"Gibbs? _Gibbs_ gave you Pvt. Prewitt?"

"Yeah." Tony couldn't help the look of shock on his face. "Don't look so shocked, Tony. He thinks of me like a daughter. He can be very sweet."

"Are you sure he doesn't want you?" Tony asked. Kylie slightly shoved him. Tony laughed.

"Come on, kid. Why don't we get you outta here?"

Kylie nodded. "That sounds nice."

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Later that night, Tony turned off both his cell phones and knelt by the bed. After he had left the hospital, he dropped Kylie off at her apartment and, after making sure she took her medication, he went home. At home, he called Jeanne and told her he'd had a long day and wasn't going to make it over there tonight.

Yeah. Yeah. He loved her too.

As he knelt before his bed, he did something he hadn't done in a while.

He prayed

_In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit._

_Amen._

_Love means never having to say you're sorry. I never really knew what that quote meant until I met you. You, who took my breath away, kept me on my toes, and every other romantic cliché you can think of. _

_I want you to know that no matter what may happen with me and Jeanne, or any woman for that matter, that I will truly never love anyone the way I love you. You are still my everything, Kate. And I know that you are looking down at me from Heaven, watching my every move, laughing at my jokes, rolling your eyes at my stupidity and my movie references, and wanting my hot body._

_Heh. Sorry, sweetheart, that was for me._

_I also know that I will no longer mourn for you. Even though it sounds cliché, but then again what part of our relationship wasn't, I will not treat your death as an end, but more of a beginning. A beginning of a new life for you. And I know that when I die – whether it be tomorrow or when I'm 90 – you'll be up there waiting for me. And we can start a new beginning of our life together – the one we couldn't have down here._

_I love you, Katie, and I miss you. I'll see you soon._

_In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit._

_Amen._

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A/N: OK, there it is. I actually re-wrote that prayer at least four times before I got it right. (I knew it was right because I couldn't write it or re-read it without crying)

I hope you like it! Kisses…


End file.
